Dancing In The Rain
by Jackrabbit2011
Summary: Rose/10 Whoever knew rain could be quite so manipulative? Somethings that you try to hide from yourself only ever surface when you haven't got control...
1. Euphoria

A/N: Just a small thing I though up whilst being bored senseless in Geography- enjoy

**A/N: Just a small thing I though up whilst being bored senseless in Geography- enjoy. Hopefully it won't be more than two or three chapters long- but none of my stories ever stay the length I want…**

**Disclaimer: Hmmm… who actually owns Doctor Who? Is it the BBC or the Doctor Who guys? You know seen as the directors and editors and script-writers are always different… anyway, whoever does own it isn't me, sadly. Maybe one day. **

**Chapter One: **

"You're crazy!"

"Oh course I am! Life's so much better when you're bonkers!"

Rose shook her head incredulously at her companion. Just when she though he couldn't get any odder, he did this.

"This is ridiculous! I mean, look at yourself!" she half yelled over the steady, drumming beat of the rain that cascading from the heavens by the bucketful. Her companion, a thin, crazy-haired man wearing a two-piece brown suit looked at her oddly through the sheets of rain.

"Oh come on, Rose!" He yelled back, laughing. "This is fun!"

"I don't count standing in the pouring rain on an alien planet, freezing myself to death _fun_, Doctor." She retorted. He only laughed at her snappiness- and she couldn't help but laugh with him. _He must be giddy with the cold or something. _She though as she watched him try and talk her into leaving the comfort of the TARDIS. Rose was leaning against the open doors, watching the Doctor- whilst she was protected by the energy shield surrounding the TARDIS, keeping the rain out, the Doctor wasn't; he'd been soaked through within seconds of stepping out of the TARDIS.

Not that he was complaining, through.

"Since when did you watch_ Britain's Got Talent_?" She laughed as he mimed dancing with an umbrella, whistling the tune to Singing in the Rain as he did so.

"Since you started travelling with me- I feel like such an old foegie when you're quoting bits of X-Factor and all that- and I have absolutely no idea what you're on about." He grinned at her, crossing the distance between them in several strides of his long legs.

"No!" Rose squealed as he grasped her wrist with a wet hand. "There's no way in _hell_ you're getting me out there!" The Doctor frowned at her.

"Rose Tyler- wash that mouth out." He scolded her. Then his frowned disappeared, replaced with a sly grin. "Do I have to drag you?" his words were met with a frenzy of squeals and pleadings as he began dragging her towards the rain. "Come on, don't be so wet- though I can't say I'm one to talk."

Rose struggled, laughing uncontrollably, but she was no match for the Doctor- thin as a stick as he was. Eventually they passed through the energy barrier.

She shrieked once as the water hit her, and then stopped, glaring at her friend.

"But… it's _warm_!" she accused, giving the hooting Doctor a little shove. He walked backwards a few steps, talking Rose with him- though how much the shove had affected him, Rose couldn't be sure; it was probably the uncontrollable laughter that made him move. The laughter momentarily stopped as the Doctor issued a cry of chuckling surprise, and then the two of them were falling. Rose landed, cushioned by the man she'd been holding onto, with as splash, and then the laughter was back. She tipped sideways off of the Doctor and landed in a small puddle, giggling hysterically -she was already too wet to really be bothered about her clothes anymore. She rolled onto her stomach and turned to her friend.

"Why are we laughing so much?" she asked him, through the giggles.

"Water Fever- the rain's making us happy." He caught her half-concerned, half-hysterical look. "'tis nothing to worry about- it's a natural thing. The rain is heavy in several minerals that speed your heart slightly and give you a sense of euphoria. You can go home and tell Jackie you've been high on alien rain." The laughter returned- Rose could barely breathe now.

"Yeah," She huffed. "I'm sure that'll go down well- she'd think you'd been giving me drugs or something." Her words began a new round of hysterics, even though it was hardly funny, and neither could speak for several minutes, content to shake themselves apart laughing instead. When Rose's chuckles had subsided slightly, she sighed and leant against the Doctor, who was still laughing quietly to himself. She liked the Doctor's laugh- it was both harsh and soft at the same time, vulnerability and beauty all mixed up together. It was something she hardly ever heard- he smiled and sort of half-laughed a lot, but he never seemed to really _laugh_, like he was now. It seemed that for all the bravado, all the jokes, he was still an outsider who didn't feel wanted- and being as high as the clouds was the only thing that erased that for him, however temporary. Rose was sad as she realised she would probably never hear it again, not after they left this odd planet where the rain made you high. She frowned.

Well_, she_ wanted the Doctor, she needed him. And it couldn't be Gallifry and the Time Lords, but it was a start.

Shaking her head to clear it, she realised the Doctor had been talking to her.

"… called this planet Drench- it never stops raining, ever. It's part of the environmental cycle procedures; constant rainfall, forever. Great for life suited to watery places- lizards, frogs, fish…" Rose half-listened, half concentrated on the rain spattering her face. Warily she licked the water off her fingers- the effect of the few drops was instantaneous; she could feel the desire to jump around crazily, to laugh just because she could sizzling through her mind. She sprang athletically to her feet, pulling the Doctor with her. She had a bizarre urge to start twirling through the puddles like some sort of manic ballerina.

So that's what she did.

Rose barely registered that tiny sane part of her mind telling her that she was making a fool of herself, that she would regret it tomorrow, when the effects of the rain had worn off. But the tiny sane part was just that- tiny. Rational Rose wasn't being heard, because right now, Barmy Rose wanted to dance, and she didn't want to listen to what she should do. There was no-one there to laugh, save the Doctor- and he wouldn't, because he was her friend, and just as high as she was.

She was performing some bizarre wavy movements with her arms when she felt the Doctor grasp her wrists.

"No, no, no, Tyler," he murmured. "That's not how you dance in the rain. We can do crazy-dancing on the planet next door- Drench is for dancing like _this_."

And he showed her. Though the rain was falling in warm, thick sheets and falling into her eyes, Rose could see the Doctor's face clearly- every sparkle in his eyes as he laughed, twirling him and her in some elegant dance she didn't know.

"It seems you can dance in this body, Doctor." She giggled as she splashed through several ever-widening puddles. He winked and spun her around, her soaked hair swishing in dark-blonde clumps as she whirled.

"Haven't you realised yet? I can do _everything_." The Doctor said, mock-seriously. "I'm superman."

"What, you're real name's Clarke Kent?" Rose asked innocently, making the Doctor frowned, the effect ruined as he exploded into laughter seconds later.

"Oh yes, did you never realise?" Rose couldn't reply, as she was spun around again, at frightening speed; even with the landscape blurring around her, she wasn't in the least bit afraid- the Doctor wouldn't let her hurt herself; she trusted him. She stopped spinning and, before she could straighten her vision properly, she felt hands on either side of her waist, lifting her up in a half-turn before being set down on the floor again. Rose didn't have to do anything, the Doctor was guiding her as the rain fell around them, splashing through the puddles and laughing like the loons they were; she felt like such a child, dancing around in the rain-she should have still been in the TARDIS, like an adult. But she didn't want to- why act like an adult when being a child was so much better? The Doctor seemed to agree, the dance getting evermore ridiculous, until all they were doing with spinning around in crazy circles, whooping with laughter.

Eventually, Rose couldn't continue; she was breathless from the dancing, and the constant laughing had left a stitch in her side. As she teetered precariously, on the edge of falling over, Rose felt one of the Doctor's hands slip into hers, the other on the small of her back, lowering her gently to the floor.

And then they were lying on the water-covered ground again- the stars hanging in space shining brightly through the thing layer of clouds- how the clouds could be so thin and produce so much water was beyond Rose. But, relying on past experience, she couldn't be bothered to listen to the no-doubt lengthy explanation. She was too wracked up with laughter to really concentrate. Her fingers swished through a nearby puddle, and she realised for the first time just how wet she was. She laughed, again.

"I couldn't be wetter if I'd sat in a bath with my clothes on." Rose giggled, which made the Doctor chuckle, setting the laughter fits off again. She sighed. _I wonder what it'd be like to live in a place like this_ she though to herself; when every second was spent being wet and laughing. She repeated the query out loud, and the Doctor smiled.

"Your face'd hurt, after laughing constantly- that's why the colonies that live here wear suits to stop the rain being absorbed into their blood-streams whenever they go out- otherwise the laughter would never stop."

**A/N: Right, had to end it there, because what was originally a one-shot got a bit long, so to save you from reading yourselves to death, I've split it into two parts. **


	2. In The Moment

A/N: Chapter Two…

**A/N: Chapter Two… **

**Thank you to all those who reviewed too- nice people!**

Rose sighed again, content just to sit in a puddle on an alien planet and look at the stars. It took her a moment to realise her hand was still in the Doctor's, but she didn't want to take it out of his. She felt too happy with the way she was to right now to change anything. Overhead, the stars burned brightly, shimmering slightly in the constant rain- the sight made her even more euphoric. This time two years ago she'd been stocking shelves at Topshop, bored to tears with her life that never went anywhere. Now…

She smiled. Now she was high on alien rain, feeling top of the world, with a good-crazy alien she liked better than anyone else lying beside her in a puddle. And she was loving every minute of it.

The Doctor turned to look at her, and the sight of his face- his normally hectic brown hair plastered flat against his forehead, dripping water in his eyes every few seconds, the brown suit he always wore pasted to his narrow frame, making him look like a drowned rat without the whiskers- created a mental image that set the laughter going again. Rose couldn't stop the laughs long enough to explain- the confused look on the Doctor's face enough to create more reels of laughter. Her amusement was infectious, and soon they were both lying in helpless heaps, hooting like a flock of owls.

Again, Rose got the unquenchable urge to _do_ something- anything; the first thing to come to her mind. However crazy or bizarre… there was no-one to stop her, and she felt free for the first time; nobody was standing there to stop her making a fool of herself, to tell her not to do something, to stop creating a scene. She was on her feet before she realised, running in senseless circles, sloshing through the ankle-high water, keening happily. The Doctor, caught up in her craziness and the effects of the mind-altering rain, was right behind her, whooping. The absurd running around became a crooked game- something, in the depths of Rose's still sane mind, that she couldn't win. The Doctor was faster than her, and was only a matter of seconds before he caught up with her in this haphazard game of chase. Still, she shrieked happily and tried to out-run him- but within seconds his hands were wrapped around her in clear victory; she heard him whoop behind her.

Senseless by the elation, Rose slipped and tipped forward, taking the Doctor with her. She was still laughing when she landed on to soft, water-logged ground, the Doctor's weight pinning her- not uncomfortably- to it. She expected him to get off her; instead he rolled, her following, until they had switched positions. Rose barely acknowledged that they were both breathing hard- but neither of them had run far, really- she was too busy shaking with more giggles. She was drunk- drunk to the point where everything was laughable, where all she and the Doctor could do was laugh- they were beyond anything else. Again, the rain made her fevered brain crave to do something wild and shocking, to feel the adrenaline of something forbidden course through her veins. She wanted to do something she couldn't. And she could see in the Doctor's bright eyes, in his tense posture that he was craving the same. Something that wasn't allowed.

So she kissed him.

Her frayed rationality registered what she was doing- what _was_ she doing? - She was kissing an alien, her friend. Her friend who was an alien. But the rational part of her didn't scream at her to stop, to leap away and pretend it had never happened like she thought it would. Almost as if what she was doing wasn't all just the effects of the rain. But she didn't know nor care about this, because the adrenaline that she had so craved was shooting through her as she kissed him. Everywhere, there was fire, burning her, boiling her blood until she should have been screaming, except it didn't hurt. It was painful, but it didn't hurt. She wanted the pain; loved it, _needed_ it- the adrenaline, the fire, and she knew why she had it.

Because he was kissing her back.

Her mind was scattered, unable to comprehend what was happening, instead just accepting it; the fire his hands left as they ran through her hair, the _rightness_ of it. But it was just the rain, making her do this, feeding the desire to touch him, to make sure he was real, to keep on kissing him until she couldn't breathe- wasn't it?

Rose didn't know- all she could feel was the damp fabric beneath her hands, the building pressure in her chest as she struggled to not break away from him as the need to breathe intensified. The need for the forbidden far outweighed the need for oxygen.

Finally, the burning in her lungs became too unbearable, and she broke away, tumbling off the Doctor as she inhaled- with it, her mind cleared slightly, and the enormousness of what she'd done came crashing down on her. She met his eyes, his expression was twisted with something she didn't recognise- was he angry that she'd kissed him? How could she be so stupid? - it was hard enough for him, protecting her from the dangers that lurked in space without the awkwardness that her actions could bring. He would think she had feelings for him-how could she make him see that it had only been the euphoria, the spontaneous urge created by the rain that had made her do that? It was nothing… was it?

The rain was a dangerous thing- Rose realised. It was shaping her thoughts whilst she still stood in it; it was making her imagine things. For a second, she almost felt as if that kiss- that brainless, in-the-moment kiss- hadn't been entirely one-sided. She had to be more prepared; alien rain that could conjure up feelings like that- but could rain really do that? Create the passion she had believed had been in that single kiss? Or was her ability to invent, to create things better than she'd thought?

_Well, it must be_, she thought to herself. The alternative just… wasn't a possibility. She shook herself; of _course_ it had just been her- was she really imagining that the _Doctor_ had been kissing her back? And even if he had- which he hadn't- it would have been the elation, the rain, nothing more; she was twenty-year-old from the Powell estate, a fragile, insignificant human. On what world would someone like the Doctor have any interest in that? He was different- he was ageless, an alien from another planet, lost. Kind, caring, lovely…

Her awareness came back to her with a jolt- did she really just say that? What was going on? The rain made it hard to think; every time she inhaled the scent of the rain, she felt the giddy happiness struggle to over-whelm her. She focused on the Doctor's face instead - did she just imagine the rush she felt when she looked at him? - She couldn't discern the expression on his face- it wasn't angry, sort of… indecisive? No, he looked like he was torn, between anger… and what? Rose couldn't tell, not in her present state, but it reminded her of something- almost the way her mum looked at her, but slightly different; the way she used to look at Rose's dad whenever he smiled at her, like he was the most important thing in the world- what was it called? Rose couldn't remember, not when the rain was clouding her thoughts…

The Doctor's eyes snapped downwards, and then quickly back to her face, almost as if he were embarrassed, like he'd caught her coming out of the shower or something- Rose looked down at herself, puzzled, and then felt heat rush over her face. _White_, she thought, screaming in mortification. _Why did I have to wear white today?_ She hadn't noticed whilst she'd been half-crazed, and neither, it seemed, had the Doctor; her white shirt was half-transparent in its soaked state, revealing rather more of herself than she'd intended. She crossed her arms over her chest, covering- she hoped- most of her underwear. She couldn't look at her friend, who was still sitting next to her.

Suddenly, he laughed, breaking the tense atmosphere between them. Rose looked at her friend warily, but the effects of the rain had been building, and she found she couldn't suppress them; the laugh bubbled from between her lips before she could stop it, and within seconds she was laughing hysterically again, forgetting the tension between her and the Doctor just seconds ago.

The giddiness overtook her again, and then she was splashing through the puddles, eager to forget the awkwardness; she didn't want that between her and the Doctor, and if all it took was to allow the rain to erase it, then so be it.

She let herself be guided by the high- the bizarre spins and twists took her back through the energy barrier, back into the warmth of the TARDIS, and away from the rain. Devoid of the elation, and suddenly exhausted, she slumped on the console floor, breathing deep, shaky breathes. Through the tiredness, she heard the Doctor collapse in a heap beside her, his breathing equally heavy. Rose leaned against him, taking comfort from the familiar smell, altered slightly by the rain but still his own- a mixture of water, and stone and sunshine, and something she didn't have a name for. It was the Doctor's smell, and she loved it- it was more familiar to her than her own; comfort and safety and friendliness all rolled into one.

She turned to him, and found her eyes locked to his; unable to move, to break way, Rose stared into the brown eyes that she'd recognise anywhere. Words died in her throat as she saw the pain and the longing twist his features; she couldn't focus on anything else- just the expression- the same she'd seen so many times, when he though she wasn't looking, when he was looking at _her_.

Again, she felt the questions from before stab at her; was it the rain that made her kiss him? Was it one-sided? She knew the answers- how could she not? They were obvious, but he was so good at hiding things, and so was she- so good she'd convinced herself.

No. It wasn't.

He was soaking wet but she didn't care; he looked half-drowned but it didn't matter, nothing mattered but throwing her arms round him. She couldn't blame the fire on the rain now- the effects were gone and yet the fire remained when she kissed him; still there, like it always would have been, if they'd ever stopped lying and faced what they _knew_.

This time the burning in her lungs didn't matter; she'd die right now if she'd had to, but she wouldn't let him go; not ever. He was real, but only if she kept hold of him, kept kissing him- and he seemed to think so too. One hand held hers in a fierce grasp- the other spread tendrils of fire as it ran through her damp hair, leaving her body burning. The fire was everywhere, an angry, writhing pain that she loved, that she needed. That Rose wanted so badly because it screamed _him_; the Doctor.

They drew apart, her chest throbbing at the distance, and she looked at him, drowning in his eyes again. Because he knew, just as she did- and she said what she knew he was thinking as well.

"It wasn't the rain that time."

**A/N: Ahh, quite like that- not bad for something I came up with in my Geography lesson, eh? Who needs to know where about tectonic plates when Doctor Who inspiration is just around the corner? Know which I prefer… review and tell me what you think! **


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